Ellen's Relationships
This page is comprised of Ellen's relationships with other characters in the series. Relatives Parents Nothing is known about Ellen's relationship with her parents. They left years ago on an "around-the-world" holiday and haven't been heard from since. She and Edgar rarely question this, and never express any interest in them returning. Ellen seems to be more reluctant to discuss her parents' disappearance than her brother is, and is uncomfortable when he questions their whereabouts in "Nod's Limbs". Edgar Edgar is Ellen's twin brother, and her constant companion since birth. Even before they were born, the two had a tumultuous relationship, keeping their mother in hours of agony as they fought to see who would be born first. After Ellen won, her brother joined her in their parent's arms, and promptly poked her in the eye. They have been alone together for most of their lives, with their parents seemingly abandoning them years ago, with nothing but a note left in their place. Ellen and her brother didn't seem to mind, and actually relished being unsupervised. They spent their days playing pranks on people and harassing their pet, Pet. They also enjoy rooting through garbage in the Gadget Graveyard, and feeding bugs to a giant carnivorous plant they had found there. They also like to sing duets together while they run around town or scheme. Their lives got a lot more complicated after the Knightleigh's started clearing their junkyard, building gaudy hotels across the street from them, and trying to remodel/tear down their house. Though they bicker and attack each other often, the pair made a good team against their stacked odds, though they did suffer one devastating loss after another. Ellen ended up poisoned by Pet's tears in "Pet's Revenge", and unable to help herself, was dependent on her brother to help her regain her bitter nature. Ellen was confused and upset with her brother during this time, wishing he was more hospitable to their guests and the crew fixing up their house. After Edgar managed to cure her of the Balm's cheery side effects, Ellen destroyed the entire ballroom, with Edgar cheering for her the whole time. In "Under Town", Stephanie Knightleigh killed Ellen's beloved plant Berenice, Edgar was unsure of how to comfort her, apparently never having needed to before. He did his best, tugging on her pigtail and offering to play a new game, but ended up helping his sister dig a grave for Berenice instead. In their adventures, Ellen always seems to be the more aggressive of the two. She likes using direct action, and is better at telling lies than her brother is. She also often has to remind him when he's getting too caught up with glitz and glamor, or when his plans are getting too complicated. The pair also like to tease and berate each others looks and hobbies, despite having interest in each others hobbies and looking almost identical. When they speak to each other, they often end sentences with the other's name or title, and the other will mirror that in their reply. ("Brother."/"Sister.", "Edgar."/"Ellen.") During the Nodyssey series, the twins hug twice; once after Ellen almost died in a volcanic explosion, and once after being apart for weeks for the first time in their lives. This is significant, seeing as Edgar commented in "Nod's Limbs" that Ellen solving one of the riddles was the closest he'd ever come to wanting to hug her, and Ellen had replied in disgust "Thanks for resisting." In "Split Ends", Ellen is listless without her brother to talk to, and sings to herself halfheartedly on her journey to Lach Lufless. While Breaking and Entering into Stephanie's speedboat, she wishes Edgar was there, because he would have a flashlight in his satchel. On the way to Cougar Falls in Nod's zeppelin, Ellen almost falls from the airship from being overly excited about searching for and seeing Edgar again. TV Series: In the cartoon series, Ellen takes an even more dominant role in her relationship with her brother. Even though they still bicker, Ellen seems to win more often, and can intimidate him with yelling or threatening. She often teases him for his interest in (mad) science, monster trucks, escape artistry, and trading cards, as well as for his love of his satchel. Though Ellen often depends on his plans and gadgets, she still berates their ability to work properly, even keeping a list of all the inventions he has made that failed to work. ("Twinvasion") Edgar is much more emotionally fragile in this series, sometimes tearing up or sulking when he's upset, injured, or trapped, and Ellen often has to snap him out of his depressed state with aggression, or the occasional kind word. Edgar doesn't share the same interest in Ellen's plants as he does in the book series, and will try to experiment on them, though he always gets attacked in response. The few times that Ellen shows weakness in the show, Edgar does seem better at comforting her, and tries to protect her when her blunt, direct-action attitude gets her in trouble. They also seem more comfortable with physical contact than in the book series, often grabbing and pulling each other, slinging an arm around one another, or hugging in fear. Friends/Allies Pet Originally, Ellen and her brother thought of Pet as a plaything and enjoyed torturing it in their games. That is, until it gained the strength to fight back. Afterwards, the twins realized Pet was slowly being killed by a bite from Morella. Ellen was very careful with and protective of Pet during this time, even trying (through shaking words) to threaten Heimertz when she thought he was trying to hurt Pet. Since saving Pet's life at the end of "Nod's Limbs", Ellen and Pet's relationship is more like a friendship. It enjoys playing pranks, which she and her brother appreciate. During the Nodyssey series, Ellen is often carrying Pet, or asking it to help with her plans. In "Split Ends", Pet accompanies her instead of her brother on their separate journeys (thought it was at Edgar's insistence). Miles Knightleigh "As far as Knightleighs goes, this one is alright" - Ellen, on Miles in "Nod's Limbs" Miles is essentially the only friend that Ellen and Edgar made in Nod's Limbs aside from Heimertz and Pet. When Ellen (in a trance) attended Stephanie's sleepover at the Knightleigh Manor, Miles was the only one there to treat her with any kindness. Stephanie and her friend's locked Ellen out in the rain, and after Miles discovered her hiding in the doghouse, offered for her to sleep in his room. Ellen later expresses gratitude for that, offering some defense for Miles in a conversation with her brother. In "Nod's Limbs", Miles formed an alliance with the twins and helped them solve one of Nod's riddles, and then took their side against his family after Stephanie tried to trap them all underground. In "Hot Air", it is revealed that Miles was Edgar's inside source all along, which Ellen had no knowledge of. He then tries and help them rig the election against Nod, which Ellen thought he would botch, but was pleasantly surprised he made a good distraction. After the twins departed to Frøsthaven, Ellen left Miles in charge of her plants, which he confirms to be taking care of during a phone call in "Frost Bites". Ronan Heimertz Ronan Heimertz was selected to be the groundskeeper of the Tower Mansion twelve years prior to the series, about the same time Ellen and her brother were born. Heimertz's strange behaviour and eerie silence made him the only person who truly unsettled Ellen. Although Ellen feared Heimertz she was brave enough to confront him when necessary. She tried to play "good cop" with him when her and Edgar interrogated Heimertz in their home, and then attempted to threaten him when she believed he was trying to hurt Pet. When the Heimertz Family Circus returned to Nod's Limbs, the twins were tricked by Ormond Heimertz, and inadvertently helped get Heimertz imprisoned along with Madame Dahlia. Ellen was happy for that, thinking he was a traitor, but after Heimertz spoke to her and her brother for the first time, they both realized they had been completely bamboozled, and that Heimertz had been trying to save Pet too. ("High Wire") When Ellen and Edgar tried to dig out the Balm spring to save Pet, she expresses remorse for betraying him and Dahlia. Later, she sends him a letter, using very carefully chosen words to explain (without saying directly) that the Tower Mansion is going to be torn down, and that they need his help. She and Edgar then conceal a lock pick in the wax used to seal the letter, hoping he will be able to use it to escape. When Stephanie caves the Balm spring in the twins, Nod, and Miles, Heimertz risks his own life to save them ("Nod's Limbs"). Afterward, Ellen and Edgar no longer feared Heimertz, and started seeing him as their hero and protector. Ellen attended Heimertz and Dahlia's wedding afterward. Madame Dahlia When they first met, Madame Dahlia found Ellen, Edgar, and the Midway Irregulars rigging carnival games and pranking people. Dahlia scolded Ellen and the other kids for cheating, thought it did little to intimidate Ellen. They were sent to her tent, and Ellen was amazed with Dahlia's Nephentes Leviathos, Gustav, even when it attempted to eat her. Dahlia tried to use him to scare Ellen straight, but Ellen (having knowledge of Nepenthes) replied that Nephentes Leviathos may eat large beetles and rodents, but do nott eat humans. Madame Dahlia was happy to hear Ellen knew about Nepenthes plants. Afterward, she told Ellen and the other children the story of the "Mad Duke". Madame Dahlia was the first real reason Ellen wanted to join the circus alongside her brother. Dahlia's knowledge and collection of carnivorous plants was very inciting, and she hoped to learn more from her. She even considered sharing her botanical secrets with her until the twins discovered that Madame Dahlia had been helping Heimertz hide from his family, when they still believed that Heimertz was evil. ("High Wire") During the final night of the circus, in the big top show, Ellen became convinced that the dragonfly amber was in Gustav's gullet, and crawled over to Madame Dahlia's plants to investigate. Gustav swallowed Ellen whole and she accidentally became part of the act, when Dahlia pulled her out of Gustav's mouth in the middle of the performance. Ellen was happy that her "traitorous" ex-future-mentor was arrested along with Heimertz after the circus came crashing down. However, after she and Edgar spoke to Heimertz and saw Ormond as the cheat he is, Ellen regretted betraying Madame Dahlia and Heimertz. After, she and Edgar sent Heimertz a letter hoping he would be able to escape the circus jail, along with Dahlia. After the twins escaped the cave in and mansion collapsing, Dahlia was outside waiting for them, and assured them that Heimertz would live despite his injuries. ("Nod's Limbs") When Madame Dahlia moved into the former Knightlorian with Heimertz, the twins, Nod, and Pet, she became Ellen's mentor in botany, and quizzes her on botanical facts at random. She also sewed Ellen a lovely mint green dress for her to wear in Heimertz and Dahlia's wedding, and offered to make her a dress for each day of school. ("Hot Air") They part ways for most of "Hot Air" and "Frost Bites", but Ellen reunites with her during "Split Ends", when she arrives at Lach Lufless. Dahlia is warm as always, and serves her a big bowl of sheep stomach stew. However, Ellen quickly realized that she and Nod have been poisoned by Stephanie with ithune tears after they try and force her to drink juice with her meal. Dahlia holds her in a tight grip while Nod tries to funnel the juice to her, but Pet helps her escape. Later, Dahlia and Nod attack Ellen again underwater, and are instructed to drown her. Though, with the help of Luffie, Ellen manages to stun and then force feed them handfuls of Nepenthes seeds. After they reach shore, Dahlia thanks her for saving them. She and Nod then save her from the "terrible punishment" of being locked in a candy stockade, and they set off for Cougar Falls in the Nod's zeppelin. Dahlia keeps Ellen from falling out as she gets overzealous about seeing Edgar again, warning her to "not risk such a thing!". Dahlia accompanies the team to Zimmizoka. Augustus Nod Ellen and Edgar lived inside Nod's old tower mansion for their entire lives prior to its collapse. Her and her brother knew little about him, but discovered his laboratory under their house and read through his old journal, thinking at first that it was the lair of The Mason. ("Under Town") They also learned that he was friends with Pet, and had called it "Pilosoculus" or "Pilos" (hairy eyeball). She and Edgar were able to decode his old key for Pet's language, and learned to communicate with it. While digging out the Balm spring, they come across a skeleton they believe to be Nod. A prank during "Nod's Limbs" sparked a town-wide search for the long-since missing limbs of Nod's golden statue, and Ellen and her brother begin to unravel the towns ugly history involving Nod and the Knightleigh's. They eventually uncover that the Knightleigh's wealth was all inherited from the death of Nod's daughter, Agatha. The twins were determined to solve the series of riddles Nod left behind, and would inherit not only his old home, but all of his money that the Knightleigh's wrongfully inherited according to his will. She and Edgar came face-to-face with him after several Nod's Limbsians were tricked into digging out the Balm spring below the mansion. They broke in the cave, and a hairy creature emerged, which ended up being Augustus Nod, in the flesh! Nod, while celebrating his freedom, scooped Ellen and Edgar up in a hug and exclaimed that they were "the most beautiful things has ever seen". Ellen was happy to learn his hatred for the Knightleigh's never wavered, and upon emerging from the collapsing mansion intact, gleefully watch Nod decimate their social status to the awaiting public. After regaining his fortune and land ownership, Nod, despite being grateful with the twins for freeing him, demanded for them to leave his property, as he is a hermit by nature. After the twins found the statue's limbs in the Knightleigh mausoleum, Nod appeared again, and expressed that they were truly worthy of being his heirs, and that Pet had convinced him to take them in. ("Nod's Limbs") Ellen and Edgar taught Nod the joy of pranking people while they lived together in the Knightlorian, and were also expected to keep the new mansion safe with multiple traps. Nod was the first real parental figure Ellen and her brother have had in years, and they both express worry of disappointing him or being in trouble. They part ways at the end of "Hot Air", and Ellen does not see him again until "Split Ends", when she arrives in Lach Lufless. Nod is unusually cheery, and Ellen's lowered guard is quickly back up and fighting after he is insistent she drink a glass of juice. She realizes he and Dahlia have been poisoned by ithune tears, but too late to escape. He apologizes, saying that he had grown to care for her and Edgar like his own children (or great x10 grand children) before attempting to funnel her the juice, but she escapes with Pet's help. Afterwards, they meet again underwater, and Ellen forced him to swallow a fistful of Nepenthes seeds, curing him of the hypnosis. Nod is weakly expresses gratitude for that on the lake shore. After Nod and Dahlia rescue her from the candy stockade, Nod flies them to Cougar Falls, and then head to Zimmizoka. Imogen Heimertz Ellen and Imogen share a good friendship with respect for one another. Before their falling out, Ellen hung out mainly with Imogen and Gonzalo. When Imogen talks to Edgar and Ellen she talks mostly to Ellen, showing that she acknowledges her as the lead twin ("High Wire") Gonzalo Heimertz Ellen and Gonzalo are good friends. Gonzalo once skipped clown practice to take Ellen to see Hector The Dissector's act and let her borrow his lucky lasso ("High Wire"). The Midway Irregulars Other than Imogen and Gonzalo, Ellen had little formal interaction with the rest of the Irregulars. The Midway Irregulars were Ellen's first friends aside from Miles. The Irregulars were inicially distrustful of her and Edgar but after realizing how much they had in common, the Irregulars invited the twins to their group. However, their friendship ended when they believed Edgar and Ellen were responsible for the collapsing of the Big Top and Ormond's supposed death. Edgar and Ellen attempted to defend themselves but Ellen quickly lost her patience and almost got in a fight with Imogen when she told them they were "going into the dunk tank" until they were forced to flee from the angry circusfolk ("High Wire"). After Benedict woke up, he told everyone that it was actually Ormond who framed them, therefore the Irregulars forgave the twins. ("Frost Bites") It can be assumed that Ellen and the Irregulars are back to being friends after Edgar frees them from Ormond and Stephanie's control. ("Split Ends") Enemies Stephanie Knightleigh Stephanie Knightleigh is Ellen's mortal enemy. Prior to Stephanie's banishment, Edgar and Ellen did the most pranks on her. Stephanie looks down on Ellen and wants her to be "normal". Ironically, when Ellen was briefly turned normal by balm in she treated Ellen with suspicion, then with nothing but the utmost snobbishness. ("Pet's Revenge") When the Heimertz Family Circus arrived to Nod's Limbs, Stephanie made a deal with Ormond Heimertz to get the property contract and the twins kicked out of their home. (High Wire). Stephanie attempts to cave in the twins, Augustus Nod and (unknowingly) her brother Miles, but thanks to Heimertz the foursome escape. ("Nod's Limbs") Knightleigh family Ellen, like her brother and Nod, despises the Knightleigh family (with the sole exception of Miles) as they, like Stephanie, are snobs and completely rotten to the core. Once she realized the Tower Mansion was inhabitated, Judith initially attempted to redecorate it instead of demolishing it so she tried to get on the twins' good side but after Ellen thwarted her plans and publicity embarrassed her she went along with her husband's plan to demolishing the mansion, no longer caring that it was the twins' home. Ellen once described Stephanie and the Knightleighs as "frogspawn". ("Nod's Limbs") Ormond Heimertz Ormond Heimertz tricked Ellen and Edgar into getting him three ambers that he needed to escape from the circus with the promise of letting them join the circus but after they did so Ormond faked his own death and made sure the twins, Heimertz, and Madame Dahlia were blamed for it. After that Ellen and Edgar grew to hate Ormond. ("High Wire") Other Heimertz Family Circus Ellen found kindred spirits among the odd performers of the Heimertz Family Circus. Ellen and Edgar agreed to get Ormond the ambers he needed if he let them join the circus. Unlike Edgar, Ellen was reluctant to join the circus since she didn't want Stephanie and her family to win the Tower Mansion until she met Madame Dahlia. ("High Wire") Archibald Tibbits Ellen first met Archibald Tibbits after she arrived to Lach Lufless, looking for Stephanie. Archibald followed Ellen and Pet wherever they went since he was told by his mother, Mayor Tibbits to keep an eye on her since she was a stranger to make sure she got a punishment if she received three tickets. Archibald helps Ellen rescue both Dahlia and Nod, although instead of helping her capture Stephanie, he gives her a ticket for snizzing without covering her mouth and due to it being her third ticket, he turns her in to the police, who put her in a rock candy stockade. He stays with her for awhile and ignores her when she calls him a weasel since it would have gotten her one more ticket. When Madame Dahlia and Nod arrive in the blimp to pick her up, Ellen tells Archibald she will see him around, to which Archibald, smiling replies "Can't wait". ("Split Ends") Category:Relationships